


Pet Sematary

by Duck_Life



Category: X-Force (Comics)
Genre: Burials, Family, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Pets, Post-Necrosha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 00:23:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19073704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: After Necrosha, Jimmy returns to the Camp Verde burial ground to put his people to rest. An unexpected old friend is waiting for him there.





	Pet Sematary

Silt and sand pile up beside him as Jimmy evens out the grave. When his friends and neighbors rose from the dead, they clawed their way to the surface mindlessly, casting aside dirt and debris. 

He is returning them neatly, gently, with all the care and respect he took when he had to do this the first time. 

 

Jimmy still remembers watching as Johnny’s body burned. He’d carried his brother’s body up around the mountain, away from the X-Men, who felt so much more like intruders than like Johnny’s brothers-in-arms. He’d set about giving him a true warrior’s funeral, the kind Johnny deserved. 

Coyote, their cat, had sat at his feet and watched the fire burn, as if he too were mourning John. 

Jimmy remembers watching the flames crackle, awash in loss and loneliness. Burning the bodies of dead loved ones was supposed to ensure that their spirits moved on and they didn’t return to haunt their families. 

Now he knows that didn’t work.

 

After Necrosha, after it was all over, Jimmy knew exactly what he needed to do. He had Telford Porter bring the bodies back from Genosha’s ruins to Camp Verde. He would bury them, he told everyone, and he would do it alone.

So many people offered to come with him, to help. Domino and everyone else on the current X-Force team offered, as well as old teammates like Sam and Rictor. Even people he’d never been on a team with— Loa, Northstar, Piotr. 

Emma Frost was one of the only people not to offer to help, because she knew what he was going to tell everybody. 

“I appreciate it, but this is something I need to do on my own.”

Of course, they all still wanted to help, wanted to do  _ something _ . So Jimmy asked for blankets— quilts, afghans. Anything that would make a decent burial shroud. And now, he wraps George Trueheart’s body in a blanket given to him by Danielle Moonstar and returns him to the earth. The man had always been kind to him, looked out for him after Johnny died. 

Jimmy shovels dirt back on top of George’s body, knowing he still has many more corpses to bury. Once George is covered, Jimmy leans down and places a hand on the spot. The dirt is soft and sun-warm. He places rocks and stones over the surface.    

 

The first time he did this, he was so much younger and so much angrier, and he didn’t have any answers. He’d buried every member of his tribe with a promise that he would find the people responsible for their deaths. 

And he did. It’s all history now. This time, as he lowers his grandfather’s body gently into the earth, Jimmy actually feels as though he is putting his people to rest. 

 

He’d thought, getting into this, that Johnny would be the hardest to rebury. After all, when he died the first time, Jimmy had burned his body knowing he could turn around when he was done and go home to his mother and father and grandfather. 

Now, he’s alone as he lays Johnny in the ground. They already said their goodbyes, though, and Jimmy finally had the chance to tell his brother that he was sorry, and that he loved him. So, no, burying Johnny isn’t the hardest.

The hardest is burying his mother. 

 

In life, Maria Proudstar was a strong, stubborn woman. Her cooking was amazing and her long hair used to tickle Jimmy’s face when he hugged her. He’d known, somewhere in the back of his head, that his mother was among the hordes of the dead Selene was commanding. 

He’s kind of glad he hadn’t actually seen her. 

 

“I love you,” Jimmy mumbles, setting his mother’s remains gently into her grave. He scrubs the heel of his hand against his cheek, wiping away tears, and that’s when he hears the noise. 

_ Mrrm? _

The sound first, and then the soft bump of a creature’s insistent head at his elbow. Ordinarily, Jimmy’s heightened senses would have alerted him to any approaching desert animal, but he’s been especially absorbed in what he’s doing. So he doesn’t notice the visitor until it’s right beside him. 

_ Mrrow? _ the creature asks again, peering down into the grave as if he, too, wants to say goodbye to Maria. 

Jimmy stares. “Coyote?”

The old tomcat is grizzled and gray, with dirt staining his paws and face, but he is unmistakable. Coyote nuzzles against Jimmy, purring. 

It’s strange. Jimmy remembers with absolute clarity the day his mother called him at the Massachusetts Institute to inform him that Coyote had passed that morning, and they were burying him with his favorite toy mouse. 

“Selene got you too, huh?” Jimmy says, scratching Coyote behind the ears.

_ Mrrowp _ , Coyote affirms, headbutting Jimmy’s hand. 

 

Jimmy finishes with his mother’s grave, adding stones to the pile one by one until he’s done. The burial ground looks just as it did before Eli Bard and Selene got their hands on it, but it feels different. This time, he won’t be leaving behind ghosts and bad memories, just the bodies and spirits of people he loved. 

The war is over, and the people get to go home. 

 

Jimmy wipes his eyes one last time, breathes in dry Arizona air. “Just you and me, then, huh, Coyote?”

The cat paws at his leg, wants to come up. Jimmy scoops up Coyote and carries him the way Johnny once taught him, supporting his back legs. Coyote purrs contentedly. 

“You’ve been alone a good while, haven’t you?” Jimmy guesses, petting the top of Coyote’s head and down, scratching his shoulder blades and the space behind his ears. “You’ll like Utopia.”

 

The sun sets on Camp Verde, and Coyote is warm in Jimmy’s arms. 

 


End file.
